Nice to see The Ted packed for once. There were more people at the game last night than there were at the playoff game last year. Dan Uggla, Freddie Freeman, and Justin Upton hit home runs along with some monster hits by Gerald Laird. If he can keep that up, it will make it easier to get rid of injury prone McCann.

It was also nice to see Chris Johnson play well at third. On base three times in his Braves debut. Also, it looks like Uggla lost about 15 pounds. Hopefully he can be at least something like the player he was in Miami.

And the Rockies lost... I've been a Rockies fan since they started in 1993, I even had season tickets from 96 - 99. I've also been a Twins fan since I was a little kid, but these two teams SUCK and I'm getting sick of putting up with their choke fests. I need to find a new team to root for.

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Join the Cubs. At least we choke with style!

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Yeah, the Cubs 'Lovable Losers' vs. the Rox 'Losers' sounds pretty good to me right now.

Nice to see The Ted packed for once. There were more people at the game last night than there were at the playoff game last year. Dan Uggla, Freddie Freeman, and Justin Upton hit home runs along with some monster hits by Gerald Laird. If he can keep that up, it will make it easier to get rid of injury prone McCann.

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Well, there's kind of this little problem of Gerald Laird not being good at baseball.

No but Evan Gattis is expected to do the bulk of the catching. I think Hudson felt a little more comofortable with Laird which is why he played last night. Gattis has monster power and has hit consistently over 300 in the minors. He also had a ridiculously good Spring hitting 357 with six home runs and 16 RBI to win the "starting catching job." I don't expect Laird to finish the season with Atlanta. Laird is going to get playing time for his ability to be a signal caller behind the plate. His bat will be buried towards the back end of the lineup anyway.

Glad I turned down some free tickets to the Twins opener. Not only did they lost (I didn't expect them to win against Verlander), but it took them 3 1/2 hours in 35 degree weather to do it. The Twins made a lot of changes to their pitching staff this year, but I think that's going to be their weak spot again.

No but Evan Gattis is expected to do the bulk of the catching. I think Hudson felt a little more comofortable with Laird which is why he played last night. Gattis has monster power and has hit consistently over 300 in the minors. He also had a ridiculously good Spring hitting 357 with six home runs and 16 RBI to win the "starting catching job." I don't expect Laird to finish the season with Atlanta. Laird is going to get playing time for his ability to be a signal caller behind the plate. His bat will be buried towards the back end of the lineup anyway.

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Gattis is a complete headcase and he couldn't hit worth shit in AA last year -- he's never even seen AAA pitchers, to say nothing of major league arms. Beyond that, you underestimate just how much Fredi Gonzalez loves Laird. Gattis will probably get 35 - 40 percent of the starts at most until Brian McCann comes back to continue his slow descent into mediocrity, at which point Gattis is going back to the minors.

And, again, hitting like a freak of nature in spring training is totally meaningless. The Royals have something like a .540 winning percentage in spring over the last ten years, for heaven's sake.

The summary of his minor leage stint last year is a 305 hitter with 18 home runs. He only had 189 AB's with Mississippi. Its kind of dickish to call someone recovering from depression a headcase when they have seemingly recovered years ago. You seem to want to transpose prior year stats as an indicator of future performance.

Spring training doesn't mean players are carry over into their season statistics but it does mean they can earn a chance for playing time. Geez, its not like they inked him to a contract like Verlander's, he won a platoon catching job hitting in the eight hole. As far as who plays more this is Fredi's exact quote.

"I think we'll play it by ear," Gonzalez said. "We know what he can do offensively. I didn't tell him he was going to be the backup guy. He could split time with Laird right down the middle, or maybe he could get even more time."
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Its no gurantee that Gattis will go down when Mac gets back either. He was orginally an outfielder and the talk is that if he impresses during the first two months, he could find playing time in the outfield on the other players rest days.

The summary of his minor leage stint last year is a 305 hitter with 18 home runs. He only had 189 AB's with Mississippi.

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That .305 average was driven by beating the tar out of advanced A pitchers. It's hardly meaningful, and as I said, he hasn't even seen AAA pitching yet, and those 182 ABs in AA were pretty miserable.

I'm not saying Gattis is a lost cause (he does have a good eye for walks), but his past performance is far from stellar.

Its kind of dickish to call someone recovering from depression a headcase when they have seemingly recovered.

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From an objective standpoint, it's absolutely a factor when evaluating his makeup. It's the same reason no one wanted to go longer than four or five years on Josh Hamilton; they didn't want to be on the hook if he started drinking or snorting coke again.

You seem to want to transpose prior year stats as an indicator of future performance.

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Past performance is generally how talent is evaluated, yes.

Geez, its not like they inked him to a contract like Verlander's, he won a platoon catching job hitting in the eight hole. Its going to be ok, besides, you already pointed out that the alternative is Gerald Laird. Its no gurantee that Gattis will go down when Mac gets back either. He was orginally an outfielder and the talk is that if he impresses during the first two months, he could find playing time in the outfield on the other players rest days.

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Well, Gattis' prospect value takes a huge hit if he goes to the outfield, given how marginal he already is; being a 26-year-old who until now has never gotten above AA is not a good place to be.

Again, I'm not saying he's terrible or a lost cause, I'm just saying that expectations should be pretty low. He mashed in rookie ball and hit a pretty hard wall in AA. Fredi's going to ride Laird until Gattis proves he can actually handle legitimate major-league pitchers.

Yes exactly, I never said this guy would be a world beater. I'm saying he had a decent spring and showed some upside in his minor league career which translated into him spinning that into a part time catching gig while Mac is on the shelf. Not saying he is going to be great but as you already pointed out, he is competing with Gerald Laird so of course he can easily exceed expactations. The Braves have nothing to lose by plugging in a platooning 26 year old rookie in the 8 hole. If he underachieves then it makes the decision easy when Mac comes back to demote him to AAA. Or who knows, maybe this kid has turned the corner and they catch lightning in a bottle. Nothing wrong with him getting at bats to see what he can do.

I am fully aware that stats are an evaluation of talent but they aren't the be all end all of that evaluation. The coaching staff makes a determination of how the player is progressing and what skill set they currently have; seeing the ball, batting stance adjustments,etc. You know as well as anybody that prior year stats are rarely indicative of a player as a whole. Look at Justin Upton. He had an MVP calibur year two years ago and then struggled last year. There comes a time when you give a guy the chance and find out with your own eyes if the guy can play at the big league level.

The Braves have nothing to lose by plugging in a platooning 26 year old rookie in the 8 hole.

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Outside of the possibility to completely wreck whatever potential he still has. When a guy is clueless at the plate in almost 200 AB against AA pitching, the correct move is not to move him up to the majors, it is to see how he does against AAA arms before rushing him up. If he was so stymied by mid-minor pitchers, it stands to reason that he may have issues higher up.

Basically, having a guy learn at the major-league level is not the way to develop talent.

The Braves have nothing to lose by plugging in a platooning 26 year old rookie in the 8 hole.

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Outside of the possibility to completely wreck whatever potential he still has. When a guy is clueless at the plate in almost 200 AB against AA pitching, the correct move is not to move him up to the majors, it is to see how he does against AAA arms before rushing him up. If he was so stymied by mid-minor pitchers, it stands to reason that he may have issues higher up.

Basically, having a guy learn at the major-league level is not the way to develop talent.

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Completely wreck him? Thats a tad bit sensationalisic. He is 26 years old. Most players are entering their prime at this point. You say clueless at the plate? He hit 256 with a considerable amount of walks and not a lot of strikeouts. He is a contact hitter as confirmed by his spring report. Good eye for the ball with good power. 256 isn't good by any means but it is definately not clueless. Its simply middle of the road. Again, the Braves have nothing to lose with him mostly because he is 26 years old and they don't really care all that much if they wreck him seeing as how their No.2 overall prospect is catcher Christian Betencourt currently playing in Mississippi. The Braves know that Gattis isn't going to be McCann's heir apparant hence them rolling the dice. I don't know. I guess I just don't see this being the immense trainwreck that you seem to think it is. Besides if it doesn't work out, oh well, he goes back to AAA and gets those at bats.

You know Freddie Freeman hit 248 with his stint at AA Mississippi and then hit 319 the next year in Gwinnet. Hell Brian McCann hit 264 in AA and never even sniffed AAA. Coaches don't go off of stats alone or else nobody would make it past AA. Coaches want to see quality at bats and a good approach at the plate above all else. When they think that you are mature enough to provide that then you can get the nod to go to the next level. Most MLB players playing today have really crappy AA numbers if you go look. Bottom line coaches make the call on whether a player is ready or not.